Shadwell Court

The Buxton baronetage was created for Robert Buxton in 1800.{{London Gazette |issue=15307 |date=4 November 1800 |page=1244}} His grandfather, John Buxton along with his distant relative Edward Lovett Pearce, had built the original court, then named Shadwell Lodge, in 1727–29 as a retreat from the main family house, Channonz Hall at Tibenham.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}}{{cite web |last1=Hayes |first1=Melanie |title=An Irish Palladian in England: the case of Sir Edward Lovett Pearce |url=http://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/97068/Irish%20palladian%20in%20England%20Proof%20no%20images%20.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |access-date=1 March 2024}} The family's fortunes had been established by Robert Buxton (1533-1607), a successful lawyer in the service of the Duke of Norfolk.{{cite web|url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/buxton-robert-1533-1607|title=Robert Buxton (1533–1607)|publisher=History of Parliament|access-date=17 July 2021}} In 1841 the second baronet engaged Edward Blore to undertake a major enlargement of the house, which was completed for his widow in 1843.{{efn|The architectural historian Mark Girouard describes Emily Chomeley, the second baronet's window, as "a character out of a Trollope novel, a dowager both formidable and slightly absurd, moving through life in an aureole of good works and admiring clergymen".{{sfn|Girouard|1979|p=197}}}} On their son's majority in 1850, the third baronet followed the Victorian tradition of embellishing the local church, and endowing a school, before embarking on a further enlargement of his home. The church at Brettenham,{{NHLE|num=1076935|desc=Church of St Andrew, Brettenham|grade=I|access-date=17 July 2021}} the Old College at Rushford,{{NHLE|num=1076907|desc=The College, Brettenham|grade=II*|access-date=17 July 2021}} and the work at the court were all entrusted to Samuel Sanders Teulon.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Buxton/family.htm|title=Cambridge University Library: Buxton Papers|date=10 October 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991010023834/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Buxton/family.htm|archive-date=1999-10-10}}

The costs of the Teulon rebuilding were considerable and may have contributed to the sale of the house and estate in 1898.{{efn|Although the expenditure was vast, the extra living accommodation achieved was not in proportion; the dowager Lady Buxton, who continued to live at the court throughout her son's life, acknowledged, "the house will have a very imposing effect - and yet a few Batchelor Rooms is all the addition that we gain".{{sfn|Girouard|1979|pp=203-204}}}}{{sfn|Girouard|1979|p=204}} The Buxtons had never been a hugely rich family; Jill Franklin, in her study The Gentleman's Country House And Its Plan: 1835–1914, records the income from their 10,000 acre estate in the mid-19th century as £7,260 per year.{{sfn|Franklin|1981|p=28}} In contrast, the buyer of the estate, John Musker, was a very successful grocer who founded the Home and Colonial Stores in partnership with Julius Drewe.{{efn|While Musker used his fortune to purchase an established country estate, Drewe wanted a new-build and employed Edwin Lutyens to design Castle Drogo in Devon.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}}}}{{sfn|Girouard|1979|p=204}} The Muskers owned the estate until the 1980s, when it was sold to Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum who incorporated it into his Nunnery Stud, based at Thetford.{{Cite web|url=https://shadwellstud.com/about-us/|title=About us|publisher=Shadwell Stud|access-date=18 July 2021}} The court has not been lived in since the 1990s,{{Cite web|url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/great-victorian-buildings-risk-need-help-204131|title=These great Victorian buildings at risk need your help|first=Carla|last=Passino|date=19 September 2019|publisher=Country Life}} and in 2019 it was placed on the Heritage at Risk Register over concerns as to its condition.{{Cite web|url=https://www.edp24.co.uk/lifestyle/heritage/these-ten-buildings-in-breckland-are-at-risk-of-being-1259238|title=These ten buildings in Breckland are at risk of being lost|first=Marc|last=Betts|date=17 August 2018|publisher=Eastern Daily Press}} The then director of The Victorian Society, Christopher Costelloe suggested, "Shadwell Court's owner can easily afford to look after this important building properly. This major country house has been neglected for far too long and it will be a scandal if it isn't put right soon".{{Cite web|url=https://victoriansociety.org.uk/news/shadwell-court-norfolk|title=Shadwell Court, Norfolk|publisher=The Victorian Society|access-date=18 July 2021}} The Shadwell Stud contested the allegations of neglect, noting that over £1.6M had been spent on conserving the structure since its purchase by the Al Maktoum family.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetfordandbrandontimes.co.uk/news/shadwell-estate-company-vow-to-maintain-an-endangered-200-year-1942408|title=Norfolk mansion named among top ten most endangered buildings|first=Emily|last=Thomson|date=13 September 2019|publisher=Thetford and Brandon Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.suffolknews.co.uk/bury-st-edmunds/news/shadwell-listed-endangered-building-9084905/|title=Shadwell Court listed as 'endangered' building|first=Laura|last=Nolan|publisher=Suffolk News|date=19 October 2019}}

The Shadwell estate is private and is not publicly accessible.{{sfn|Headley|Meulenkamp|1999|p=366}}

The original Shadwell Lodge, built around 1727 for, and designed by, John Buxton, was to a standard Georgian plan, comprising three bays and three storeys.{{sfn|Girouard|1979|p=194}} There are suggestions that John Soane undertook work at the house in the 1790s, but the Historic England listing does not record this.{{efn|The relevant Norfolk Pevsner suggests that Sloane drew up plans for enlargement but that these were not enacted.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}}}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thedicamillo.com/house/shadwell-park-shadwell-court/|title=Shadwell Park (Shadwell Court)|publisher=Di Camillo|access-date=18 July 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.heritage.norfolk.gov.uk/record-details|title=Shadwell Court: Norfolk Heritage Explorer|publisher=Norfolk County Council|access-date=18 July 2021}} Due to financial constraints, the original lodge was not demolished, and the two periods of Victorian expansion saw first Blore, and then Teulon, envelop it with their own enlargements. Blore's work saw the construction of a southern, two-storey, block on the garden façade, together with the building of a service wing to the north.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}} Teulon's extensions of the 1850s saw the reconstruction of the entrance front, and the building of a large stable range, with a colossal entrance gateway topped by a tower.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}}

The result of Blore's, and then Teulon's, efforts, is decidedly vertiginous; Historic England notes the "balanced asymmetry and strikingly punctuated skyline".{{NHLE|num=1076940|desc=Shadwell Court|grade=I|access-date=17 July 2021}} The building is of three storeys on some fronts, and four on others, with a range of turrets and towers. Jill Franklin notes the diagonal staircase tower as one of the earliest examples of its type.{{sfn|Franklin|1981|p=160}} The building materials are Caen stone, brick and flint, with slate used for roofing. The climax of the interior is Teulon's cruciform central hall, with stained glass, an organ and a timber roof with elaborate carving by Thomas Earp.{{sfn|Pevsner|Wilson|2002|pp=638-640}} Mark Girouard, the architectural historian, considers Shadwell among Teulon's best work; "a dazzling display of Victorian fireworks, in its way a work of genius".{{sfn|Girouard|1979|p=199}}

The grounds contain a grotto, constructed around a mediaeval well dedicated to St Chad from which the estate derives its name.{{sfn|Headley|Meulenkamp|1999|p=366}}

Historic England is the statutory body with responsibility for the listing of buildings in England. It uses a three-tier rating system, classifying listed buildings into three categories; Grade I, the highest grade, for buildings of “exceptional interest”, Grade II*, the next grade, for buildings of “more than special interest”, and Grade II, the lowest grade, for buildings of “special interest”.{{cite web|url= https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/what-is-designation/listed-buildings/|title=Listed Buildings|publisher=Historic England|access-date=6 May 2021}}

Shadwell Court is a Grade I-listed building. The Clock Tower entrance to Teulon's stable courtyard is listed Grade II*,{{NHLE|num=1342781|desc=Clock Tower north of Shadwell Court|grade=II*|access-date=18 July 2021}} while the stables themselves,{{NHLE|num=1076903|desc=Two Stable Ranges north and northwest of Shadwell Court|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} a brewery,{{NHLE|num=1076901|desc=Brewery north of Shadwell Court|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} a game larder,{{NHLE|num=1342782|desc=Game Larder north of Shadwell Court|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} and a fountain, all in the stable courtyard, are listed Grade II.{{NHLE|num=1076902|desc=Fountain in court north of Shadwell Court|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} The gardens of Shadwell Court are designated Grade II on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens,{{NHLE|num=1001019|desc=Shadwell Park|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} while an eighteenth-century wall, dating from the time of the original lodge,{{NHLE|num=1342783|desc=Wall to Garden 250 Yards South East of Shadwell Court|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}} and a gardener's cottage, possibly by Blore, are designated Grade II.{{NHLE|num=1249023|desc=Gardener's Cottage About 350 Metres South East of Shadwell Park|grade=II|access-date=18 July 2021}}

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{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book

| last = Franklin | first = Jill

| title = The Gentleman's Country House and its Plan 1835–1914

| url = https://archive.org/details/gentlemanscountr00fran

| url-access = registration

| location = London, UK

| publisher = Routledge & Kegan Paul

| year = 1981

| isbn = 978-0-710-00622-6

}}

• {{Cite book

|last = Girouard | first = Mark

|author-link=Mark Girouard

|title=The Victorian Country House

|url=https://archive.org/details/victoriancountry0000giro

|url-access = registration

|year=1979

|publisher=Yale University Press

|location=New Haven, US and London

|isbn=978-0-300-02390-9

}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Headley |first1=Gwyn

|last2=Meulenkamp |first2=Wim

|year=1999

|title=Follies, Grottoes and Garden Buildings

|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1008038820

|publisher=Aurum Press

|location=London

|isbn=978-1-854-10625-4

|oclc=1008038820

}}

• {{cite book | last1 = Pevsner | first1 = Nikolaus

| last2 = Wilson | first2 = Bill

| authorlink1 = Nikolaus Pevsner

| title = Norfolk 2: North-west and South

| series = The Buildings Of England

| year = 2002

| url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1101266459

| publisher = Yale University Press

| location = New Haven, US and London

| isbn = 978-0-300-09657-6

| oclc = 1101266459

}}

Category:Country houses in Norfolk

Category:Grade I listed houses

Category:Grade I listed buildings in Norfolk

Category:Breckland District